Escape the hustle and bustle of hectic French Riviera to the charming village of Mougins, only a few minutes away from Cannes on a hilltop. There French chef Denis Fétisson runs two different restaurants and I recently had lunch at one of them, called La Place de Mougins. Lunching in gourmet restaurants is a great way to enjoy those fine venues’ fancy menus in a faster (and less expensive) way. At La Place de Mougins dishes were as good as they look, so let the pictures talk:

If you visit Cape Town, you should definitely try to book a table at Test Kitchen. Like for most trendy and internationally renown restaurants, getting a table booking ain’t easy… You will have to start trying very early, with a lot of flexibility regarding your dates. But it’s worth trying: clearly one of the best multi-course lunches I’ve had, in a chic-industrial atmosphere. One of the waiters told me a fascinating story on how his father was one of the first persons to start painting houses in Bo-Kaap. What comes to the chef, the creative use of different vegetables was just amazing. My favorite dish: the first dessert. Least favorite one: the veggie entrée. Now let the pictures talk (unfortunately I don’t have the names for each dish and the menu on their website has changed since my visit).

During my recent trip across Northern Italy, I had an amazing dinner at Alice Ristorante in Milan. Awarded with one Michelin star and located inside the slow food temple of Eataly near Garibaldi station, this women-led restaurant serves almost flawless modern Italian cuisine. I chose the shorter Sandrina menu and wasn’t disappointed. Wine pairing was excellent with very local wines! In terms of food, my favorite dishes were the revisited Caesar salad and “superspaghettino”. The red mullet was somehow disappointing, only flaw of an otherwise splendid meal. Efficiency and professionalism of the service has to be mentioned, no long waiting times between dishes which I think is a great thing. In my opinion Alice Ristorante easily deserves another star!

Having dinner at Eleven Madison Park in NYC is the quintessential fine dining experience, in a restaurant awarded with the maximum of 3 Michelin stars and currently listed third best restaurant in the world. Here chef Daniel Humm takes you to an incredible gustative journey of several hours. The venue itself is imposing, almost grandiloquent (an atmosphere fortunately softened by nicely dim light). Food could be described as traditional gastronomy with a twist. I visited in winter and their menu being strongly inspired by the seasons, dishes were classical and rather straightforward. No delicate spring flowers or green leaves, but squash, beet, onion, celery and cauliflower instead. Main ingredients included lobster, caviar, oysters, foie gras, venison, eel, sturgeon and scallops. Nothing less. Highlights of the dinner were traditional breakfast muffins to go with the caviar, a refreshing Waldorf salad prepared by the table and with a surprise velouté underneath, botrytis ice cream, and to end the evening a funny chocolate game (match the right milk with the right chocolate). All in all, Eleven Madison Park is very refined and still very American. Ready for some pictures? Let’s go!

Thepickytraveller recently had lunch at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in central London, between two planes on a long layover at Heathrow airport. Located inside the Mandarin Oriental next to Hyde Park and run by chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, this 2 Michelin-starred restaurant serves historically inspired British dishes. Which is quite interesting. Now let pictures talk.